With four major victories and 41 wins on the PGA Tour, there’s
no disputing that Phil Mickelson has had a great, great golf career. Yet, when
all is said and done, Lefty’s legacy will be one of what might have been.
He’s
come oh, so close to establishing himself as one of the best to ever swing a
club.
Sunday,
Mickelson came up just short again, finishing second in the U.S. Open for the
sixth time. Hard-luck Phil also has two other runner-up finishes at majors. A
couple shots here and there and he would be mentioned in the same breath as the
elite of the elite.
Interestingly,
Mickelson’s is nowhere near the top of the leaderboard when it comes to
second-place finishes in majors. The man with the most silver medals in the big
tournaments is none other than the Golden Bear himself, Jack Nicklaus, with 19.
Big
Jack finished second at the U.S. Open a record seven times, but he also won
America’s national championship tournament four times, which is four more times
than Phil has.
Nicklaus,
of course, also holds the record for most major victories, with 18. Just think
about that for a minute. Had he dropped a few more putts, he’d be holding an even
bigger major cushion over Tiger Woods, who’s been stuck at 14 since 2008.
***
If EJ
Manuel were to win the starting quarterback job in training camp, he would
become the first Bills rookie to start at the position since Jim Kelly in 1986.
And Kelly, we should point out, was 26 at the time, having spent two seasons in
the old United States Football League. I think Kevin Kolb has a slight edge as
of now, but with Tavares Jackson out of the picture, EJ will get ample
opportunity to make his case at St. John Fisher College and during exhibition
games.
***
Two of
my favorite volunteer events are the Challenger Baseball World Series and the
Rochester Press-Radio Club Day of Champions Children’s Charities Dinner.
I participated in my 19th Challenger event
Saturday morning at Frontier Field and walked away inspired once more. The
highlight of the morning was watching a kid being led around the bases by a “buddy”
and a seeing-eye dog. Close to 300 kids participated and there were almost as
many volunteers assisting them. As I wrote on Facebook, “Every kid got a hit.
Every kid scored a run. And every kid demonstrated the triumph of the human
spirit.”
The sixty-fourth
Day of Champions dinner will be held tomorrow night at the Riverside Convention
Center, and we’ve sold more than 1,000 tickets to black-tie gala. I helped edit
the 72-page dinner program, will coordinate the pre-dinner press conference,
then stage a question-and-answer session on stage with this year’s headliner,
Colin Kaepernick, the San Francisco 49ers Super Bowl quarterback. We’ve gone to
the Q-and-A format the past two dinners with Eli Manning and Clay Matthews, and
it’s been well-received. Looking forward to meeting Colin, who seems like a
sincere young man who’s on the verge of super-stardom in the NFL.
I’m
proud to work with such a dedicated group of volunteers, headed by Pat Grover,
Mike Kauffman and Keith Ryan. Our core group has been in place for about a
decade, in which time we’ve raised more than a half-a-million dollars for local
charities.
***
The
best story in minor league baseball – perhaps in all of baseball – this season
has been unfolding in Rochester. Chris Colabello, the 29-year-old first baseman
who toiled in the independent leagues for seven years before catching a break,
continues to own International League pitchers. Through 56 games, Chris is
hitting .369 with 21 doubles, 14 home runs and 50 RBI. I was so pleased to see
him receive a call-up to the Minnesota Twins last month. He’s actually yo-yoed
three times between Triple-A and the bigs so far, and probably will be
up-and-down again several more times. I just wish the Twins would call him up
and let him play 10 straight games to see if he can hit consistently on the
big-league level.
***
Here’s
another sign the apocalypse is upon us: USC football coach Lane Kiffin recently
offered a scholarship to an eighth-grader.
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